Time travel? That sure gets old quick
by bec7012
Summary: Future fic. Chris centric. Chris, Good Wyatt and their cousin find themselves in trouble when a case of demonic induced time travel lands them in the early 90's. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**I own charmed. I found my old yellow power ranger when i tidied the attic. One of theseisn'ttrue, and i'm looking at the power ranger now, you figureit out.

**A/N** This is my semi sequel to 'limes, what have limes got to do with any thing?' Though you **don't** have to have read that to understand this,(in fact if it turns out like that fic the chances of anyone understanding whats going on, characters and author included, is pretty low) , in fact if you haven't it wont make much difference, other than some of the sisters/childrens powers may seem a little unfamiliar...

All you need to know is its set in a good future, Wyatt and Chris are college aged and still live in the manor. It also includes Phoebe's daughter 'Melinda' since despite my hatred of the over use of that name, it does seem the most likely name for her. Melinda's father will probably remain unknown, simply to stop arguments of who it should be, but she is half witch/ half human. I like to think her fathers Jason, so if i do mention him thats probably who i'll choose. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed limes, (even if im not meant to say that anymore) and i hope you enjoy this fic.

* * *

**Chapter 1 :** **Catering and Demonology, a perfectly ordinary study selection**

Wyatt help me pick a shirt," said his worried younger brother.

"The blue one," said Wy gesturing at a whole pile of blue shirts.

"Oh really helpful" said Chris, " which one?"

His brother sighed, "This one," and with a flick of his wrist a blue T-shirt landed in his brothers arms.

"You sure this isn't too casual?"

"You look good in it man."

"I don't know what you're stressing about anyway," came the voice of his cousin, "you're an angel; literally, what's not to love?"

"And I don't know what your doing sprawled out on my bedroom floor," retorted her cousin.

"Oh yeah."

"So be helpful or get out."

"The blue one," she said unhelpfully

"Stop it or I'll curse you," joked Chris.

"Oh wouldn't that be unusual," she said rolling her eyes.

"No more so than you cursing us," replied Wyatt.

"Fair point."

"Ok people focus. How do I look?"

"Fine!" said two voices at once.

"Now hadn't you better get going? You'll be late." Looking at his watch the middle witch swore and ran out of his room still swearing. On the way down the stairs he grabbed a jacket and the car keys.

Meanwhile back in Chris' room his brother was looking out the window.

"Has he gone yet?" asked Mel

"No, wait he's just getting into, wait that's my car!"

"It's nicer than his."

"Humph. Ok he's gone."

"You sure?"

"Yup, do it."

At that moment a large screen appeared in the middle of the room, a second later an image of Chris driving off in Wyatt's car appears.

"Hey! Why is it in black and white?" Protested Wyatt

"Oops sorry," said his cousin and with a swift kick the image turned into colour.

Chris pulled up outside a small café where a pretty girl was standing in a waitress' outfit waiting for him.

"Hi honey," he said smiling nervously as she climbed in the car.

"Hi Chris," she replied leaning over to give him a kiss, " you're late."

"Only by a couple of minutes," he said apologetically.

"Let me guess you were so busy worrying that you lost track of time."

"Something like that," he said blushing.

She smiled, "don't worry, I love you and my parents are going to love you."

"Aww," said Wyatt to his cousin "ickle Chrissies in love." She just laughed.

A few minutes later, after a quick stop at her apartment for Chris' girlfriend change out of her work clothes the pulled up at a modern house, with a large garden.

As both, Chris and his girlfriend, who I just realised is yet unnamed got out of the car, she pulled him over for a kiss and said one last time, "don't worry they'll love you."

"Thanks Teri," he said trying to hide his nervousness.

As they walked up the driveway, he couldn't help feeling worried, _this is pathetic _he thought, _you kill demons on a daily basis for gods sake. You can handle this. _

Then another voice appeared**, _for goodness sake man! They're only her parents. _**

_Wyatt get out of my head, you too Mel I know you're there. _

Silence

_Good_

Still here you know 

_Damn _

"Ok Chris we're here," said Teri ringing the doorbell.

As the door opened, Chris was surprised not to be greeted by either of his girlfriend's parents, but by a girl, who looked about 14, dressed solely in black. She wore a pentacle necklace around … well her neck

"Hey," she said.

"Hi Lucy, this is Chris. Chris this is my sister Lucy."

"Hi."

"Mom!" she yelled turning round "Teri and her new boyfriend are here!"

Chris heard laughter in his head.

_I thought I told you to get out!_

_**And when has that ever worked?**_

Chris sighed, and entered the house.

He was led to the lounge where Teri's parents were sitting; the TV had obviously just been turned off. Mr and Mrs Hampton stood up to greet him shaking his hand. Taking a seat on the sofa next to Teri and Lucy the questions began.

"So Christopher, you're at college with Teri?"

"Yes," he replied

"And what are you studying?" Mrs Hampton asked

" Oh Demonology and catering," he said calmly, as if this were a normal combination.

"Well that's an interesting combination," remarked Mrs Hampton carefully, "Do you intend to work with food?"

**_Notice she ignored the demonology _**smirked his brother

"Chris' mother owns a restaurant," said Teri smiling.

"So you'll work there?"

"Well mom wanted to keep it a family business and my brother Wyatt can set fire to a kitchen making cereal," replied Chris attempting a joke.

_**Hey man that happened once, and it was demon related.**_

"Well that's good, it's nice to be able to cook. John here can't cook to save his life," said Teri's mother gesturing at her husband.

"So which restaurant does your mother own?" asked John

"P3," said Chris "and the club, I don't know whether you know them."

"No," replied John, "but I hear good things."

Chris smiled: _this isn't going too badly _

**_Like I said you're an angel how could they not love you?_**

_Thanks _he replied sarcastically

"P3?" asked Lucy incredulously, " that's like the best club in town you get loads of great bands to play there."

"Yeah, my mom's great at getting bookings."

The rest of the afternoon went reasonably pleasantly and Chris seemed to be getting on quite well with Teri's family, until he got left alone with Lucy. Teri had oh so subtly dragged her parents into the kitchen to find out what they thought of Chris.

"Mom I want a cup of tea, why don't you _and_ Dad help me make it." Oh the subtlety.

And with that they disappeared, leaving Chris with the teenager.

"So Lucy, er what do you do with your time?" asked Chris attempting to make conversation.

"I'm a wiccan" she replied. Chris' eye widened

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied sharply, "and if you dare tell me that it's rubbish I shall curse you. I get enough of that out of my parents and Teri."

"No I believe you."

"You do?" she asked incredulously.

"Sure, Wicca is a valid religious belief, one that's been around for centuries. Who am I to criticise it?"

"Oh," she said smiling, "you sound like you know a lot about it."

"I'm studying demonology," he pointed out, " that would suggest …" but he never got to finish that sentence.

The room began to shake violently and everything went black, when Chris could once again see he began to get a little worried.

"Where the hell are we?" asked a voice behind him.

Looking around he saw that they were standing on the side of the road in bright sunshine. To his left and right were pretty looking houses with big gardens and old fashioned cars.

"I don't know."

_Any ideas_

Silence

_Hello, you don't expect me to believe your not still here?_

Silence

_Hello? Hello!_

Silence

_Oh crap_


	2. Chapter 2: A spell would come in handy

**Disclaimer**: i've managed to gain the rights to charmed between posting the first chapter and this one. Unfortunately my lying hasnt got any better.

**A/N: i love reviews. Oh and i'll apologise now for any spells in this fic, i know they're all pants. **

"What the hell?" asked Wyatt as his and Mel's Chris monitor went black, "is he blocking us? Damn him."

"I don't think he did this," said Mel quietly

"Why?" asked Wyatt

"Because I think he did!" she yelled pointing at a demon that appeared out of nowhere. The demon sent a fireball zooming in her direction, which she promptly used her empathy powers to channel back at him, causing him to explode leaving a nasty mess.

"Nice," remarked her cousin

"Thanks," she smiled, "is the screen back on?"

"No," Wyatt replied disappointedly, then a moment later looking worried added, "I can't sense him either. He's gone…"

"Gone?" asked Mel, "Gone where?"

* * *

"1992!" said Lucy disbelievingly

"What?" asked Chris sharply

"1992," the girl sounded terrified, " that billboard says that TV show starts 12th June 1992"

Oh C 

"Relax," said Chris attempting to calm down the girl, " it's probably just a really old billboard."

"A 30 year old billboard?"

"Ok then maybe its just a prank, we've stumbled onto a TV set or something," he replied desperately searching for a believable explanation.

"Oh face it Chris, we've travelled through time!" snapped the teenager.

"No, I'm sure that there is some…"

"And it's soooooooo cool!"

"What?"

"I've always wanted to do something like this! I can't wait to get back and tell my friends!"

_Ok this girl is crazy. Time travel is not something to be taken lightly we could erase our own existences… again. Besides I'm more concerned about who or what sent us here and why._

"Lucy, time travel isn't a game," he began, "we could seriously mess up the future if we stay here too long." She looked at him curiously.

"You seem to know a lot about it."

"Lets just say this isn't the first time something like this has happened to me."

_Talk about understatement of the century… last century, I mean there was the time with that weird parallel dimension or that time Wyatt got stuck in a time warp of his maths test. Ugh why is my life so complicated? _

"Really?"

Meanwhile back at the manor.

"So what do we do?" asked Mel

"I could call Dad get him to search for him, or mom see what she has to say."

"And admit we were spying on him again?"

"Good point, so how about a finding spell?"

"Great idea, and I know one that just might work."

"Well that's handy."

" I know."

_A friend that's lost we seek to find_

_Be distance great we do not mind_

_Through space and time_

_We do not care_

_We've said the rhyme_

_Now take us there! _

"Really?" repeated Lucy, " because I thought… who are they?"

"What?"

"Two people just appeared out of nowhere and are behind you."

_**Hey Chris **_said a voice in his head _**where the hell are we?**_

Turning round, he saw his cousin and brother, walking towards him.

"Welcome," he said theatrically, "to 1992!"

"Awww crap!" swore his cousin, "Why does this always happen to us?"

"Curse of the family Mel," pointed out Chris, "oh yeah this is Lucy.

"We know," sighed Wyatt, "oh and hi by the way."

"Hi," said Mel

""Ok," said Lucy loudly, "What the hell is going on?"

"We've travelled through time," said Mel, as if that explained everything.

"Well, duh!" replied the teen, " I know that and its kind of cool, but how? And where the hell did you come from? And who are you?"

"This is my brother Wyatt, and our cousin Melinda," began Chris starting with her last question, "I'm not entirely sure how we ended up here, we must have gotten sucked through a portal or something. That what happened to you?" he asked his brother.

Wyatt shuffled nervously, "er not exactly…"

"Please tell me you didn't do this!" snapped Chris

"To you? No. It's just when our Chrisovision went black we figured there was something wrong, and I couldn't sense you so we cast a spell to take us to you and we ended up here."

"Ok… so you two are here by choice but me and Lucy got sent here."

"Spell? Sensing? Chrisovision? Yeah that really helped my confusion, does somebody actually want to explain what's going on?"

"Not really," answered Chris truthfully, "and you'd probably be better off not knowing."

Lucy, understandably a little peed off at being trapped in 1992 without explanation, no matter how cool she found it, glared threateningly at her sister's boyfriend. "Hello! I'm trapped in 1992 with 3 strangers who seem to know much more about this than I do. I think I deserve some kind of explanation!"

"Do you really want to know?" asked Wyatt clearly amused. She nodded fervently.

"Well we're here by magic, some our own doing," he gestured at himself and Mel, "others someone else's."

"So you're all witches?"

"Yeah," sighed Chris, "it's kind of a family trait."

"That is so cool! Go on do some magic!"

"Alright," agreed Wyatt, as he tried to orb. "Ok that didn't work. Chris try and orb."

A worried look appeared on his brother's face, " no, I can't either."

"Oh crap."

"We're in deep, deep sh…"

"Watch your language Chris," snapped his brother.

"But you swore!"

"Ssh I'm older."

"Wait a minute," said Chris, "I got sucked here so I have an excuse, but are you honestly telling me that you sent yourself through time without protecting your powers." The young witch began to applaud sarcastically.

"This from the guy who once turned himself into a tadpole because he copied a spell down wrong?" asked his brother.

Mel laughed, as Chris countered with; "Oh yeah and like you have never, I don't know, shrunk us to the size of insects."  
"Ok guys, ok," laughed their cousin, "fun as this is, we could be here for ever with those stories and we really need to figure out a way to get back."

"Er maybe we could try calling our powers; it's worked in the past."

"You got a spell?"

"Nope."

'Oh I wish I knew what was going on,' thought Lucy in a rather shameless attempt to get her self mentioned in the story.

"Wait a minute," said Wyatt, "Why don't we have our powers anyway? I mean it's 1992 so we're not born…"

"Well I'm gonna guess the Demon stopped mine coming with me, and you? You must have just used a really, really bad spell."

Shut up _yelled two silent voices in Chris' head._


	3. i know who to call next time I'm in '92

**A/N:** It's been a little longer than i intended since my last update but i've been suffering from the most intense case of writer block. I think i've killed it, so hopefully i'll get another update out this week... oh dear o've started rambling.

**Disclaimer:** if i owned Charmed i could buy all the reviews i want, as it is i'll just have to settle for begging shamelessly for them: please review, criticism welcome.

Re-entering their lounge Teri and her parents were shocked to discover the absence of Lucy and Chris.

"Where did they go?" asked the girl.

Looking around in confusion her mother said, "maybe they went upstairs or in the garden or something."

"Lucy?" yelled Mr Hampton "Lucy where are you?"

"Ok now I'm worried!" snapped Mrs Hampton.

Meanwhile at the manor

"Wyatt?" yelled his mother, "Wyatt will you come and help me carry the shopping?"

Silence

"Don't pretend you're not upstairs spying on your brother. Come down and help! You too Mel!"

Silence

'Ugh! Kids, who'd have them?'

"Leo," she asked hopefully looking up to the sky, " I don't suppose you'd want to come down and help… or at least go and make Mel and Wyatt help?"

There was no response.

"Didn't think so."

After putting the shopping away, Piper marched up the stairs preparing to give her son and niece a serious telling off for both spying on Chris and refusing to help with the shopping. As she entered her sons' room she saw the mess of a demon vanquish but not her family. 'Oh c,' she thought, "Leo! Paige! Wyatt! Chris!"

Immediately he husband and sister appeared, but not the other two.

"What's wrong?" asked Leo

"I got home and found this," she said gesturing round the room, "Do you know where Wy and Mel are?"

"I can't sense them, nor Chris," said Leo worriedly, "This is bad."

"You bet it is," said Paige, "I'll go and tell Phoebe."

1992 

"Er people?" suggested the non-magical teen, "do you think we should maybe find somewhere else to be. That lady doing her gardening is looking at us really suspiciously."

"What?" asked Chris

"I said that woman over there is looking at us really weirdly, and I don't blame her. We have been standing here rather a long time."

"Wow Chris," said Wyatt, "I'm impressed. You managed to travel through time with the only non-magical person able to remain calm in this kind of situation."

Chris laughed, "Oh god do you remember when we accidentally orbed Mrs Keelson to China?"

"Yeah," sniggered Wyatt, "She was so freaked out we had to replace her memories."

"Focus people," said Mel, "we need to get out of this, so where do we go for advise."

"We could go to the manor," suggested Wyatt, "talk to grams."

"_You _can," replied Chris "I have to remain as far away from there as possible, so as not to mess up my future? Er past? Other reality? The other instance of time travelling that I did."

"Two things," said Mel, "First: think before you talk."

"And second," finished Wyatt, "other you went back to 2004ish we're 12 years too early to mess that up."

"And what if one of the sisters recognises that me as this me that landed here er now? If I remember rightly that me had enough trouble with his identity without this interference."

Lucy, being new to the idea of time travel and also utterly confused, decided that the best way to alter both these things was to ask the question burning into her mind; "but if you messed up your other time travelling wouldn't it mean that the world would change so you didn't end up here to mess it up?"

The three witches looked at the girl in confusion, trying to figure out what she had just asked. Chris was the first to catch on, "possibly, and possibly not. You never can tell with time travel, even if you plan it with the utmost care things can go seriously wrong. It might have no effect at all or we might return to a hellish future, presuming we can get back of course, in which Wyatt has destroyed the world."

"You can't go one day without bringing that up can you?" asked his brother.

"No," smirked the younger.

"Thought not."

Sighing Mel turned to the other girl and said, "so you look like your going to be more help than those two, any ideas?"

"How about I go to your grams, I mean the likelihood of me upsetting the time line is somewhat less, for a start I wasn't born in 2004, am not likely to ever time travel again, and am not likely to slip up and call her 'grams'."

"Wow," laughed Mel, " I know who to call next time I accidentally get sucked into 1992"

30ish years later

"So where the hell are they!" yelled Phoebe in her office, "If they are in the underworld again! How many times have I told her not to go demon hunting without telling me!"

"I don't think they went hunting," sighed Piper, "Chris was meeting Teri's parents today, he wouldn't have bailed on that."

"So what the hell happened?"

"They must have been taken; somewhere out of sensing range."

"So if Chris was taken," realised Paige slowly, " does that mean his girlfriend's parents had to deal with a demon?"

"Oh crap," said 3 voices at once.

1992

"Ok," said Mel, "so where are we?"

"1992," said Chris, "I thought we established that."

"I said _where _not when," snapped the female witch, "as in where are we in relation to the manor."

"I have no idea," sighed Wyatt.

"Nor me," added Chris.

"We could ask that woman," suggested Lucy, walking towards her, "Excuse me," she yelled as she got closer, "excuse me."

The woman turned to the girl a puzzled look on her face, "yes?"

"Er hi, me and my friends are a little lost, I was wondering if you could tell me where we are?"  



	4. Chapter 4: It was my plan!

Some minutes later in Lucy found herself standing alone on the doorstep of the manor, the words of warning from the others in her mind.

"Don't mention magic or time travel or anything to the sisters," Chris had told her.

"Remember don't mention we are related to her, or why we can't see her, or how you know about her," said Wyatt.

"If a demon shows up; run!" came from Mel.

Rolling her eyes at the advice of her companions, she wondered if they thought she was stupid. She knew why she was going and not them: she didn't need reminding. Still she couldn't help snigger at the thought of them hiding outside in the bushes.

Ringing the doorbell, she waited for an answer.

"I don't see why we didn't just orb in," snapped Piper.

"And freak them out even more?" asked Phoebe

"I know your right," sighed Piper, "but I'm just worried."

"So am I honey, remember Mel's missing too, besides if we had orbed here Paige wouldn't be able to be out searching the underworld as we speak."

"Alright, alright," sighed Piper, "but if they don't answer soon I'm blowing up the door."

Phoebe rang the doorbell once more, "Mr and Mrs Hampton?" she called; "we really need to talk to you."

They heard some shuffling inside and the door swung open…

* * *

"Mrs Halliwell?" asked Lucy 

"Yes," replied the harsh looking old woman who answered the door.

"Um, hi," she said

"You're a bit young to be a friend of the girls," interrupted the witch, "you're not the girl who Pipers been tutoring are you? She told you she can't help you tonight."

"Um no," said Lucy quietly, "I'm here to see you; I have a problem."

The witch raised a curious eyebrow.

"A magical problem," whispered the girl.

The witch looked at the girl suspiciously; "you don't look like a demon," she concluded, "and the girls are out, so I guess you can come in. Your friends too."

"My friends?" asked the girl worriedly.

"Yes the ones hiding behind that fuchsia plant."

"Oh er, I don't think they can. They weren't meant to be seen."

"Why not?"

Desperately grasping for an explanation that wouldn't give away too much, "future consequences?" she suggested.

They heard laughter come from behind the bush.

* * *

"Hello, are you Mr Hampton?" said Phoebe quickly; "we need to talk to you about something." 

"I know you don't I?" asked the man, "you're that ask Phoebe. Sorry this isn't the time."

"Perhaps this isn't the time because something strange and upsetting just happened?" asked Phoebe accessing her empath abilities, " you're upset about something."

"Yes," he snapped, "now can you come back later my youngest daughter just disappeared."

The two sisters looked at each other

"Let us in," demanded Piper, "we can help."

The man looked her over for a moment before standing aside to let them in. As they walked to the living room they saw a woman looking worriedly out her window.

"Who are these people?" asked the woman

"They said they could help," replied Mr Hampton.

"Help how? Do they know where my daughter is?"

"Unfortunately not," said Phoebe, "but if you tell us what happened perhaps we can help."

"What happened? We left the room for 5 minutes and when we came back Lucy was gone and so was that boy! He must have taken her somewhere!"

Phoebe could feel her sister's anger building at Mrs Hampton accusations about Chris, fearing an outburst from Piper she spoke.

" 'That boy' is my nephew," she said calmly, " we came to tell him that his brother and my daughter are missing" Lying came far too easily.

The look of shock on Mrs Hampton's face was unmissable.

" We should tell Teri," Mr Hampton, "She's out looking for them while we wait for the police," he explained.

* * *

"Right!" snapped the old witch to the 4 people now sitting in her living room, "who are you and what are you doing here?" 

The three younger witches looked at each other; they knew lying to grams was hard, even when she was dead.

"er…" began Lucy and grams turned to glare at her.

"We're not demons," declared Mel distracting her grams from Lucy, "we just weren't supposed to get seen."

Grams looked at Mel, waiting for a better explanation, when no one spoke she said, "well I could just get a truth potion and force you to tell me."

The three witches laughed.

"What?" snapped grams.

"Nothing," said three voices at once.

"What?"

_Think of something _thought Chris to his family

_**Like what? Admitting that we are her great grandchildren and that last time she suggested using that on us we were all admitted our secrets by bursting out in song?**_

_Good point, but we need to say something; you know how difficult keeping secrets from grams is_

_**Only because she's dead you fool. **_

_**Forget it **_came their cousins voice, _**I'll handle it; you know I'm the best at this. **_

_Mel no…_

"Its just that truth potions don't work," said the girl, "I tried brewing one I read about in a magazine and all that happened was it made these two throw up."

"Alright," said their grams, "so who the hell are you? Lets start with your names? You first," she said pointing at Mel, "full names mind."

"I'm Melinda Perry," she said relying on her cousin's alias.

_Oh well done _sighed Chris, _it's going to be even more difficult for other me now. _

_**Sorry, first thing that came to mind**_

"I'm Lucy Hampton," replied the other girl honestly.

_Wait a second! 'The first thing that came to mind!' _thought Chris

_**Your point being? **_asked his cousin

_We're thinking this! We're not talking!_

_**Yeah we always do dumbass **_

_**No! Chris's right! **_Thought Wyatt _**it's a power! We have our powers!**_

_Precisely_

_**But we couldn't use them; this just got a whole lot more complicated **_

"Hello?" asked grams, "I asked you your names! Are you going to answer me or don't you want my help?"

"Wyatt," said Wyatt pointing at himself and then pointing at his brother, "Chris."

_**Wait a second, **_realised Mel; _**you guys tested your powers by **_t_**rying to orb right?**_

_Yeah_

_**Well that's a whitelighter power; this comes from our witch side. **_

_**Mel you're a genius, **_replied Wy, _**I'll try to use my witch powers **_

Concentrating hard on only doing something small, Wyatt made the picture frame on the other side of the room fall off its hook.

_**They're working**_

_Great now we can get ourselves home, lets get out of here. _

_**Wait, **_thought Mel, _**why don't we make things a whole lot easier for other you… **_

"Ok I'll level with you," began Mel, "We're from the future, we kind of accidentally sent our selves here and we were going to ask for your help to get us back to our own time. But while we're here I might as well sort some things out."

"Mel," said Chris threateningly but she ignored him.

"When you next see him," she gestured at Mel, "he won't remember being here because it's happened before now in our timeline, but you have got to trust him, and persuade the sisters to trust him. But not Gideon; don't trust Gideon."

_Nicely done Mel, _thought Chris sarcastically, _why don't you just out and out tell her everything about the future?_

_**She's Phoebe's daughter! We should have known she couldn't keep a secret. **_

"What?" asked Grams disbelieving, "Gideon's a highly respected Elder! Who are you to go around making accusations like that?"

"Oh well done Mel," sighed Wyatt, "You just broke the first rule of time travel; never ever reveal anything about the future."

"And we're learning this from Chris' other reality right? The one where he split his parents up, got thrown out of the house and died?"

"On the plus side Wyatt's not the ruler of all evil," joked Chris.

"Quiet!" yelled Grams, " Will you all stop bickering and tell me what is going on!"

"Er nothing," said Wyatt lying, "I think we can sort out our own problems actually. But could you maybe erase our being here from your memory? We don't want to mess up the future do we now…"

"You can't honestly expect me to just ignore this? To erase it from my memory, as much as I'd like to? For all I know you could be demons after me or the girls."

_I told you coming here wasn't a good idea: that we'd mess up the future…_

_**Shut up know it all **_

"If we were demons, we'd be the most useless demons ever," began Chris, stopping abruptly as he heard the front door open.

"Grams I'm home!" called an energetic voice from the hall, "and I've had the best day: I've got a date with…"


	5. Lesson 1: Don't let Wyatt write spells

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Charmed, if i did season 8 may have been blasted in to the abyss, and i'd probably make Phoebe wear more clothes.

**A/N : **Well here it is the 5th and final chapter. I know this story has been kind of short and i know i chicken out of relly explaining anything ... again. But enjoy.

**Chapter the last: **

Phoebe Halliwell stood in the Hampton's living room, and noticed a picture of the family on the wall. "Is that your daughter?" she asked pointing to the youngest girl in the photograph.

Mrs Hampton nodded, "Yes that's Lucy."

Moving towards the photo, Phoebe felt the girl looked strangely familiar. Running her hand along the picture she felt herself pulled into a premonition.

_Grams I'm home and I've had the best day: I've got a date with… who are you?_

* * *

A young Phoebe entered the lounge to see a group of strangers sitting talking with her grandmother.

"Who are you?"

"This is Chris, Wyatt, Mel and Lucy," said Grams quickly, "they're collecting for charity."

_**Wow Mom looks really young** _thought Mel

_This is bad, _thought Chris _this is really bad_

_**Chill, we'll fix it**_ replied Wyatt, _**We always do**_

_Except when we don't, and we have to call Dad_ commented Chris

_**For gods sake! You're 20 years old, we don't need dad to come and fix everything!**_

"You're cute," said the young Phoebe, although neither Chris nor Wyatt was sure who she was referring to, and both secretly hoped it was the other. Seizing this opportunity to escape Lucy spoke, "well thanks Ms Halliwell, but we should really be going now." Making for the exit, grams didn't have the opportunity to stop them, at least without raising suspicion with her granddaughter.

"Well that went well," sighed Chris sarcastically as the disappeared down the street.

"Yes," agreed Wyatt, "creating extra problems for ourselves was a good course of action."

"Why don't we just wipe grams' memory ourselves? If we word the spell right it can't go too wrong," asked Mel.

"Hmmm," agreed Wyatt, "I don't see that we have much choice, but I'll write it; we all know you're the potion maker."

_Out of place and out of time_

_Are all those who read this rhyme_

_As their presence could cause harm _

_Erase memories of them with a swish of my arm _

"And you're the spell writer in the family?" asked Chris incredulously, "Next time let me do it! That didn't even stick to a rhythm "

"At least we still have our eyebrows," commented Mel.

"True," smiled Chris, "Wy you're improving."

His brother glared.

"So maybe you could get us out of here?"

* * *

"I know where they are," said Phoebe glumly.

"Where?" snapped John?

"What?" asked Phoebe sharply as she'd realised what she'd said, "I um know where Wyatt and Mel are… I just remembered they went to clean out the store room of the club."

"Oh," sighed Mrs Hampton disappointed, "I thought… I thought…"

" I know and I'm sorry how I made it sound."

" Wait a minute," interrupted John, "So you came round here to tell your missing son that your other children, who you actually knew where they were, were missing?" He paused. "I don't believe you, something else is going on here: its like you knew Chris would be missing."

"Um," responded Phoebe

"Don't be ridiculous," argued Piper, "how could we possibly know that?"

Phoebe nodded in agreement, "I'm sorry we disturbed you especially at a time like this, but I wouldn't worry they're probably fine: Chris is very responsible… neurotic even."

Turning to leave neither Mr Hampton nor his wife could think of anything reasonable to say to stop them although as the door swung shut John was almost certain he heard the older sister ask: "so where are they then?" The door closed before he heard the others response.

"So where are they then?" Piper asked

"1992" replied the younger witch simply.

"Ugh," sighed Piper, "what is it with Chris and time travel? I mean if it was just the other two they could have been in the underworld or anywhere, but with Chris it's always a time travelling demon."

"That's not true," protested Phoebe only half seriously, "sometimes its an alternate dimension."

"I suppose you're right, but I just hate time travel."

"I know honey: it makes things so much more complicated."

* * *

He felt it as soon as it began to happen: a kind of wobbly feeling beginning in his feet.

"Wy?" he asked, "do you feel that?"

"You mean the jelly like feeling of being involuntarily sucked through space?" replied he's brother.

"Yup, that'd be it."

"No," smirked the older, "can't feel a thing."

"Ugh," sighed Lucy, "well I can and I …" and then she disappeared. A moment later so did the others.

Reappearing in the manor in front of a very stern looking Penny Halliwell, Chris cast Wyatt a very scathing look accompanied by a silent _'nice job with the spell there.' _

"Somebody," said their Grams sternly, "tried to cast a memory removal spell on me!"

"How did you know?" stuttered Lucy

"So it was you?" asked Grams turning her attention to the youngest, " a very poor spell it was, though it may have been successful if I did not always carry protection against such things."

" I didn't…" continued the girl intimidated by the matriarchal Halliwell.

"It was Wyatt," said Chris accusingly.

_You just can't miss an opportunity to get me in trouble can you? _

"But," continued Chris confidently, "it doesn't really make much different who it was, unless you count the fact the rest of us could have written a spell without breaking the ballad structure…"

A sharp elbow to the ribs brought him back on target. "I mean we needed your memory wiped so that we can return to our own future and not some weird messed up one so we're kind of in this together. If you'd just help us we could be gone and never bug you again… well not until we're born and you're dead anyway."

Grams eyed them suspiciously again: "I'm still not convinced you're not demons."

"Well how can we convince you?" Asked Wyatt.

"Well," said his grams, "a full explanation of what happened before you came here and who you are would be a good start"

"That might take a while," said Chris, "are there any other options?"

"I could resort to the truth potion."

"_**Well Wy,"** _thought Mel_, **"I think since you were responsible for that truly awful spell you should be the one to volunteer to spill your inner most secrets to the tune of 'Celebration.'"**_

"Er," muttered the eldest, "is there an option 3?"

His great grandmother just glared at him.

"Fine, I'll take the potion," grumbled Wyatt, "I hate being the oldest."

* * *

Piper Halliwell thundered into the manor attic, her tears changing to rage on the journey home, followed closely behind by her younger sister. Towering angrily over the book of shadows she was tempted to blow it up.

"Why," she growled, "is it so hard to have one normal day in this family: One day without demons or time travel or family members turning into wood nymphs?"

She paused and gestured dramatically with her hands, blowing up an old wicker waste basket in the process, "or mermaids, or arm chairs- god that was a long day- or accidentally banishing their French teacher to another realm because they're asked to read a passage from a novel that just happened to be written in rhyme!"

"Er…" began Phoebe searching for an explanation, or failing that, a way to calm down Piper and failing miserably.

Fortunately Paige chose this moment to orb in and announce, "Well they're not in the underworld."

"We know," sighed Phoebe sympathetically.

"Oh," Paige's face fell, "where are they then?"

"1992," said Piper, "and so will I be in a minute: as soon as I can find the spell I want!"

"You're going after them?"

"Yeah, and just me! We need you two to stay here in case it's a lure to get the book:"

The two younger charmed ones nodded numbly; it really was best just to agree with Piper in situations like this.

* * *

"Well," sighed Grams, "alright then. I'll go whip up the truth potion."

"No need grams," said a voice behind her irritably, " unless you want me to have to put up with their out of tune bawling for the next 24 hours."

Spinning round the older woman could barely contain the look of surprise on her face, "Piper? Is that you?"

"Yes grams, and please don't ask me to prove it! I've got a week's worth of shopping defrosting on the kitchen table and besides this spell only lasts 10 minutes."

The Halliwell matriarch was stunned, "and you know these people?"

"Unfortunately," sighed Piper, "you'd think," she said looking pointedly at her sons, "at 23 they could go one day without needing their mother to fix everything."

"Mo…" began Wyatt

"Don't even go there young man, I know what you were doing _before _you got sucked into the past. Just be glad your Aunt Phoebe's premonition powers are more reliable than they used to be."

"They're your children?" asked grams incredulously

"Just the boys, Mel's Phoebe's and the other one: she is an innocent. But like I said I can't stay long, just do me a favour and wipe your memories of this encounter when they're gone. And as for you lot! Get yourselves home now! We're having enough trouble explaining Lucy's disappearance to her parents as it is… you can get home can't you?"

"Yeah, I know a spell," said Wyatt, "I think."

The charmed one gave her grandmother a quick peck on the cheek and disappeared.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were her children?" snapped Mrs Halliwell.

"It's been tried and it doesn't work any better than this: remember mom's little visit to the 70's?" asked Chris

"Oh, but you're a cheeky one, I'll have to remember to have a word with you mother about that, in the future."

"No you won't," pointed out Lucy, "you aren't going to remember this."

"Plus, the last time you tried to give her parenting advice she blew you up," contributed Chris.

"Ok, you guys ready to go?" asked Wyatt, "I know a spell to get us out of here."

"I'm not sure that's such a good…" began Mel too late

_Powers of the Halliwell line_

_Return us to our space and time_

_Reverse that which sent us here_

_Hear my message loud and clear. _

* * *

"I couldn't find her anywhere?" said Teri desperately walking into her parents living room, "Chris either." Her parents were pacing the room, wondering when the police were going to arrive.

There was a loud bang and a cloud of smoke covered the room, just as a police car pulled up outside. Amidst much coughing, as the smoke began to clear Teri noticed with amazement her boyfriend, his brother and cousin and her sister had appeared in the room. Also, bizarrely, none of them seemed to have any eyebrows, only burnt skin where they should be.

"What the hell just happened?" snapped Teri's father.

"It was some kind of magic," said her mother shocked, "he said he was studying demonology."

The witches looked around dumbly at each other, and after several seconds of silence, Chris said the only thing that made any sense in the situation: "and that Lucy, is why you never ever let Wyatt write a spell."

**Epilogue **

Walking up to the door Darryl Morris saw a cloud of smoke appear in the room on the other side of the window and the Halliwell children step out of it. Sighing with the thought of '20 years and I still get all the weird cases,' he turned on his heel and walked off in the opposite direction, leaving Chris, Wyatt and Mel to solve their own problems, including a hysterical Mrs Hampton, her very nearly violent husband and, slightly later, the personal gain side effects of an eyebrow re-growth spell.


End file.
